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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone Saturday with U.S. President Donald Trump and expressed Türkiye's readiness “to do everything it can to prevent uncontrolled escalation of the tension” between Israel and Iran, Türkiye’s Communications Directorate said.
The two leaders discussed the Israel-Iran conflict along with broader regional and global issues. Erdogan said Türkiye is closely monitoring the developments and views ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program as “the only way” to resolve the dispute..
He “expressed support for the U.S. position that nuclear negotiations should continue to resolve the issue.”
Trump, for his part, has urged Iran to strike a deal over its nuclear program “before it is too late.” However, the sixth round of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, scheduled for Sunday in Muscat, was canceled.
Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Iranian territory early Friday, targeting nuclear and missile infrastructure and killing senior military officials and scientists. The attacks, which continued into Saturday, have killed at least 78 people and injured 320 others, according to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the U.N. Security Council that while radiation levels outside the Natanz nuclear site remained “unchanged and at normal levels,” the strikes did cause “radiological and chemical contamination inside the facilities.”
Friday’s Israeli strikes marked the most direct and deadly assault on Iranian territory in decades. The missile barrage targeted Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility and killed high-ranking figures including top military officer Mohammad Bagheri and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Hossein Salami, according to Iranian officials.
The Israeli military said its operations killed more than 20 Iranian commanders.
Iranian media reported that five members of the IRGC were killed in continued Israeli strikes on Saturday. Authorities in a northwestern province said 30 military personnel had been killed since Friday.
In a series of calls with regional leaders on Saturday, Erdogan warned against a “devastating war” between Israel and Iran that could trigger a refugee crisis.
Speaking with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Erdogan said Israel was attempting “to drag the whole region into the fire,” according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
In a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Erdogan said: “Our region cannot tolerate another crisis, and a devastating war could create waves of irregular migration towards all the countries in the region.” He called Israel “the main threat to stability and security in the region” and stressed that the issue of Iran’s nuclear program “can only be resolved through negotiations.”
“The fact that the international community has closed its eyes to the occupation and genocide in Palestine has led Israel to this level of flouting the law and its aggression,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
Erdogan also held separate calls with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Sharif said on X, formerly Twitter, that both leaders agreed “Israel’s unprovoked aggression against Iran” constitutes “a blatant violation of international law and a threat to regional peace.”
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